Where the Real and the Ideal Coexist: Inside Facetune Portraits

In Facetune Portraits, Gretchen Andrew captures the tension between authenticity and aspiration — a tension that defines how we live online.

We’re often told to be different—by society, family or even algorithms. I wanted to create a single portrait where our authentic selves and the ‘ideal’ self messily coexist.

Every platform encourages individuality while quietly pushing us toward a single, algorithmic idea of beauty. The result? A generation performing uniqueness within digital limits.

“I wanted to create a single portrait where our authentic selves and the ‘ideal’ self messily coexist,” Andrew explains. The works embrace imperfection — overlapping lines, distorted symmetry, fragmented smiles — to reveal the humanity hiding beneath the filter.

Rather than rejecting technology, Facetune Portraits engages with it critically, transforming a tool meant for concealment into a canvas for exposure. The portraits become proof that beauty and authenticity can coexist, but not neatly.

In the end, Andrew’s art reminds us that the real and the ideal are not opposites — they’re constantly negotiating who we get to be, online and off.